Egypt has just held the first free and democratic presidential election of its history. The run-off will take place mid-June. Since the fall of Mubarak, the country has been run by the military, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. France 24 went to meet Egyptian voters.
Marc Perelman meets Ali Soufan, former FBI special agent and expert on Yemen. They discuss the role of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Ali Soufan explains why he believes the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda is probably the most dangerous of the whole group.
Ask Algerians about their parliamentary elections and they’ll talk about "le pouvoir", the murky military-backed clans that pull the strings of power. François Picard’s panel weighs in on why elections may not matter just yet in an oil and gas-rich nation wary of Arab Spring protests against inequality.
For years, Arab citizens were unfairly demonised or totally ignored. Now, they are not only reclaiming their history but many of them, especially the younger generation, are giving the rest of the world a lesson in freedom and democracy. Douglas Herbert meets Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, who analyses the situation in his new book, “The Invisible Arab”.
Two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel raced past Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen to win Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which was held under tight security following the death of an anti-government protester Saturday.
The Arab Spring was not initiated by Islamists. And yet, in almost all those countries, with the Islamists’ rise to power, it is clear that they have profited from it. Mathieu Guidère, Professor of Islamic Studies at Toulouse-Le Mirail University, tells us why.
Gulf Arab countries have agreed to pay the salaries of the Free Syrian Army, the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's troops on the ground. It's the first international support for the FSA, who have been pushed out of many major cities in Syria, and are increasingly resorting to guerrilla tactics. France 24's reporter spent several days with fighters in the northern province of Idlib.
Douglas Herbert speaks to Bernard Guetta, a prize-winning French journalist and columnist. When the Arab Spring erupted a little over a year ago, Guetta was surprised about the timing of the uprisings, but not the fact that they happened. That's because he made his journalistic name as a reporter for French newspaper Le Monde covering the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland, and later, the fall of the Soviet Union.
Marc Perelman meets Bothaina Kamel, a candidate in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election. She was among the thousands who demonstrated against Hosni Mubarak in Cairo's Tahrir Square last year, and today she is the first woman to run for the presidency of Egypt. She tells us why she distrusts the ruling military council.
They overthrew their dictators. Now they have to fight against corruption and unemployment. How are the North African countries doing since the Arab Spring? Are investors coming back? Markus Karlsson speaks to Lars Thunell. He is the CEO of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank.
